Work It Girl Networking Luncheon: In, local buzz we’re lunchin’ with businesswomen of Northern Virginia. Work It Girl Networking hosted a fun eat and meet luncheon at the Reston Town Center Hyatt. Every month, women business owners get together to learn how to expand their outreach and empower their brand. Work It Girl founder, Teresa Young says she came up with the idea when she realized there weren’t many networking groups just for Northern Virginia. In addition to the chance to shop different vendors at the event, guests can win great raffle prizes like a trip to New York City. See tips to get your story on air below. Pictures byRich Kessler Designs

Luncheon Topic:Tips on giving your story flair to make it on-air

Get good at writing short (2-3 paragraph) news releases and remember to tailor each release for the specific media outlet you’re pitching it to. Keep it simple, reporters have minimal time to skim your pitch. If you can reference the reporter’s previous work on the topic.

Ask yourself how this story will HELP the public, in this case the reader of viewer in your community.

Follow the news: Editors, reporters want a story that is relevant. For instance, a story on the hottest organic cosmetics may work around Earth Day.

Zone in on media franchises within stations and newspapers. Does your business tailor more toward a green reporter, health reporter, style etc. Research the big bloggers that take on these issues and reach out.

Network the old fashion way. Check out local events, drive into DC if you have to. A reporter or media outlet is more likely to give you a second look if you can preface your pitch with “We met at…”

Build a media call list: Fair.org has a list of emails/contacts for network affiliates but it’s up to you to do the research to get the main contacts for the papers and TV stations you’re interested in. You can always call the outlet and ask for the contact info for the person to pitch a story to. They’ll give it to you.

Invest time in social media. Make sure your website is YOU. It is the first thing everyone will look at and like an mailed invitation will judge how great this party will be based off first impression. On your webpage make sure once your brand is in the media– you keep a resume page of your appearances, features and articles. This gives you credentials.

UseFacebookand Twitter to post exclusives and specials for your followers and fans. They’ll follow you and tell others too if they know they can get something the average person can’t.

Look for TV stations and papers that ask for citizen or i-reporters. It’s a new trend where everyday folks submit pictures, videos and news. Angie Goff’s Angie’s Armyis all about that. Her daily morning show segment is social media driven made up of reports she gets from viewers and readers.